Heart Felt

Moving house

OK, I knew it wasn't going to be easy moving house with two little ones, being seven months pregnant and still working in between ~ but I wasn't prepared for dealing with the emotions of a three year old.   

Charlie had visited the new house when we went to view it for the very first time, but the concept of 'moving' is very new to him.  He was very melancholic a couple of days a go when he came home to find most of his 'stuff' missing.  I found him standing under the Cherry tree, so I went over and explained that his 'stuff' was waiting for him at the new house in the country and that we would be staying there very soon.  We talked about all the adventures we would have on the farm.  He smiled and told me that he "loved being a little boy so much!"  It was such a sweet and tender moment....

Still not  quite convinced he knew where his 'stuff' had gone to, we took him to the house again to show him that most of our things had been taken there.   Happy to see his 'stuff', we took him down to the river near our new house.  There we met two locals fishing for trout.  Before we knew it, one of the men had caught a Rainbow Trout.  It was very exciting, the children got to touch the fish and inspect it closely and then watch it swim away again as the fisherman put it back in the river.  Driving back up to the house we discovered that the farm has beehives, lots of animals, Kowhai trees, wild blackberry bushes and we saw a few bunnies running up the hillside.  Charlie was just bouncing with excitement.  We certainly will have lots of adventures living in such a beautiful piece of New Zealand.

Our little house in the country

The view of the farm and the river from our front door step

So all is good again in the Heart Felt household (except that we are sleeping on the floor in our old house surrounded with boxes half packed while at the new house there are boxes piled high ready to unpack ~ but that's not the worry of a three year old)

As for Sadie ~ she is totally un-phased and loves being a two year old!

Sadie's new love is dancing!

Cure

A simple cure for feeling run down with colds and flu.....

Picking flowers from the garden.....

Home baked biscuits with a lemon and honey drink.....

Hope you and your family are keeping well. x

Signs of Spring

A lone Crocus found in the garden....

Spring flowers brightening up the kitchen....

Warm and dry enough to wear our favorite red vintage sandals....

Desperate to climb over the fence to get to a field of daffodils and blossom trees....

But being a bit unsure of an old pony who was either a bit frisky or a bit grumpy (he was trying to eat daddies coat)

Sadly our run of frosty mornings and warm afternoons are near it's end.....we are expecting rain at the end of the week.  But I feel we have made the most of a glorious week! xx

Lemons

After a morning exploring Grandma's garden.......

back home, Sadie helped me pick a basket of lemons.

What to do with so many lemons?

Squeeze the juice and freeze in ice-cube trays for summer drinks.....

Make lemon honey and

Preserve lemons in sea salt.....

and of course my favorite, lemon meringue pie.

Lemon Honey

4 lemons 2 cups sugar

125 g butter     4 eggs, beaten

Grate only the yellow part of the lemon.  Squeeze the lemons and strain the juice.  Melt the butter in the top of a double boiler.  Stir in sugar and lemon juice until sugar is dissolved.  Add eggs and lemon rind.  Place over boiling water and cook, stirring all the time until mixture thickens.  Pour into sterilized jars.  Store in the refrigerator.

Makes about 4 x 250 ml jars.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Base

200 g sweet shortcrust pastry (I make my own but you could use pre-made pastry from the store)

Filling

1/4 cup cornflour 3/4 cup water

1 cup sugar 3 eggs, separated

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind 1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup lemon juice

Topping

1/4 cup caster sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

On a lightly floured board roll out pastry to 6 mm thickness.  Use to line a 20 cm flan ring.  Trim off any excess pastry.  Bake blind at 190 .C for 20 minutes.  Remove baking blind material.   Return pastry shell to oven for 1 minute to dry out pastry base.  While pastry is cooking make the filling.  Return to oven and bake at 190 .C for 10 minutes or until golden.

Serves 6

Filling

Blend cornflour, sugar, lemon rind and juice together until smooth.  Add water.  Cook over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in yolks and butter.

Topping

Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until very thick and glossy.  Stir in vanilla.

It is time consuming with a lot of processes, but you can't beat homemade lemon meringue pie. Not to sweet and very tangy!

Looking back ~ August 08

I have owned my camera for a year now and recently I have been going back and reviewing some of my older photographs.  For my own interest I thought I might make it a monthly posting ~ revisiting photographs taken a year a go.  I find with digital cameras you take a lot more photographs and I don't want to lose touch of them.  I will also be able to see how much the children have developed in a year ~ holding on to each precious moment as they develop and grow.   So this is my first monthly posting which I'm going to call "Looking back".  Each posting will show photographs taken in the same month one year a go. Hope you enjoy looking back as much as I do. xx

Fern under water

Sadie with a touch of spring

Sadie in blue detail

Sadie finding her feet

Evening sun

Daffodil

Birthday bonnet

Cupcake heaven

July thrift finds

Thrifting was a bit quiet this month - I'm hoping people will soon catch the 'spring cleaning fever' and clean out their wardrobes and cupboards .  

Retro "Lily of the Valley" glass tumblers ~ $1 for the set

I find that retro 1970s wooden platters like this one for serving baguettes are perfect for displaying Mother Nature's treasures.  We have used this one to display our collection of skulls and bones ~ $2

(That is a rat skull by the way)

I found this adorable vintage doll for Sadie.  She has the sweetest face and a cute little handmade dress.  I love the detailing on the dress ~ $2

I have been wanting one of these Art Deco display mirrors for a long time, but normally they are quite expensive.  Not this one at $5.

Shabby Chic wool lined quilt with a pretty floral fabric ~ $2

Some more fabric for myself once the baby has arrived, a summer skirt for $3.50.

Spring is definitely in the air.  I snapped this shot of beautiful white Magnolias on our walk this afternoon.  Note the amazing blue sky in the background! xx

Three days of winter sun means.....

enjoying a juicy pear in the sun....

Playing with your Transformers on the warm concrete.....

The smell of Winter Sweet filling the room and being happy to receive a beautiful postcard from a new blog friend in Amsterdam.....

Not having to wear coats and hats while out on a walk.....(and having enough hair to pull up into a pigtail!)

Seeing the sun reflect off the snow on the ranges......

Finally being brave enough to ride the "Flying Fox" at the park.....

it's a good day for climbing a tree.....

and finding interesting bugs while you'e up there!....

Collecting winter flowers from the garden....

and discovering that our winter garden contains some beautiful flowers.....

and knowing that spring is just around the corner....

And finally seeing the lead singer from this group at one of your favorite local cafes!

Bird Cake

We see a variety of birds in our backyard such as Sparrows, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Starlings, Wax Eyes, Fantails, Swallows and Tui.   Some of them sit in the old bare apple tree and wait for their daily crusts and stale bread.  Today we thought we would treat them and make them a cake.  

I 'Googled' for some ideas to put in our cake, but found that there were so many suggestions using a variety of food and techniques, I decided just to follow my instinct and make up our own recipe.

We used,

Beef & Mutton fat (you can buy it in a container from your local supermarket)

Crunchy peanut butter

Sunflower seeds

Sultanas

and a packet of 'wild bird food' which contained Maize

Sorghum

Barley

Oats

Wheat

Panorama

White French millet and

Hulled oats

We left the fat out in the sun to soften and then added the peanut butter and then handfuls of the other ingredients until it looked 'about right'.

We stuffed the mixture into a netting bag that our oranges came packaged in and tied it up with a piece of string and hung it from the old apple tree.

It didn't take long until a shy little Wax Eye came to sample the delight.

Bye Bye Blackbird

This morning we woke to find a dead Blackbird on our path.  Charlie took the opportunity to inspect it's beak, claws and feathers closely.  I took the opportunity to introduce him to the concept of death - sounds a bit grim, but we follow the seasons and nature so closely it only seemed right to give him a lesson in life cycles.

   

We talked about how the bird was 'dead' and it wasn't going to wake up.  I then asked him if we should bury the bird in the garden.  He thought that was a good idea and off he went and came back with his spade. Charlie dug the hole, Charlie picked up the bird, Charlie put a little flower in the hole, Charlie put the dirt over the bird and patted it down.

   

While he was digging he disturbed some worms and I explained how the worms would eat up the bird and make good soil to help our vegetables grow big and strong.

Charlie told Ian what he had done and Ian asked him if the bird was going to wake up and Charlie said "no because it's dead".

I'm not sure how much of this concept Charlie has understood, but I feel it was a good introduction to the subject and a memory we can bring up later on when the topic arises again.

To lighten up the subject we went for a 'spring hunt'.  Hunting for early signs of spring peeping it's head up from the cold damp ground.  We found some early bulbs in flower and remnants of autumn and had fun foraging in the bushes for Mother Natures little treasures.  It was a good day. xx

  

Winter fruit picking

I just love the seasons, especially the seasonal fruit and vegetables.  At the moment we are enjoying Kiwi Fruit from a friends garden and sweet juicy Mandarins from Grandma's garden.

The Kiwi Fruit is not a usual fruit you see growing in someones backyard, they are more prolific up north where they are grown on farms.  This is a very old vine, so the fruit are slightly smaller and much hairier than the commercially grown ones found in the stores.  Sadie adores them and she didn't need much encouragement to help in the gathering.

She helped our friend Glen carry the baskets and buckets back to the house.

The little pixie hat Sadie is wearing today is made from a recycled pure wool jumper.  I found this tutorial and it really only takes 10 minutes or so to put it together.  I bought the jumper from a thrift store and I will get two hats out of one $4 jumper.  I have added my own touch with the felt heart and vintage buttons on the side.  With the next one I think I will try an alternative option for the neck ties - these were too chunky for under Sadie's neck.

Later on Charlie and I went to Grandma's to swap some Kiwi Fruit for some Mandarins.  Grandma's Mandarin tree grows down the back of her garden near a stream.  It is laden with fruit this year to Charlie's delight!

I was a a bit camera happy today - so there are a lot more photographs on my Flickr. xx